National Science Foundation

A man in a chef's hat shows young children how to make food.

Science is complex, and it’s difficult to discuss it with children under the best circumstances; it’s even more difficult when they are hungry. Two Kent State University researchers may have cooked up a way to solve both of those problems, and the National Science Foundation just awarded them a three-year, $1.3 million grant to determine if their recipe works.

Oleg Lavrentovich, Ph.D. (second from left), works in a microscopy lab with a colleague and Kent State students.

Trustees Research Professor Oleg Lavrentovich, Ph.D., a chemical physicist in Kent State University’s Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute (AMLCI), just received nearly $1 million between two grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for separate studies with potential applications in biomedical science, commercial electronics and beyond.

Close up image of an Eastern Red Cedar branch with berries. (Photo by Sheila Brown, publicdomainpictures.net)

The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $914,000 grant to Kent State University to lead a collaborative research project to study how and at what rate the geographically most widespread native conifer in the eastern United States, the Eastern Red Cedar tree species (Juniperus virginiana), spreads across the landscape.

Kent State University researchers Elda and Torsten Hegmann pose with one of the sensors they created that detects toxic gases. The sensors can be made any shape or size and require no power to function.

Thanks to a rare Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Kent State University researchers in the new Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute will be able to work with partners at Merck Performance Materials to advance life-saving sensory technology.